Finally got our Polari closed up, hulls glassed, and paint on mine.
Our simple heatsinks aren't as efficient as the pinfins that Paul E has, but they were easier to seal to the upper fuse.
Once the tops were on, we cut larger battery hatches than the plan calls for. I wasn't thrilled with the stock setup that required the hatch be framed with ply rails. As for water leakage, we caulked all of the seams inside the battery compartment with silicone, so I'm not concerned about how much water gets under the hatch. We also used paintable caulk around the wing and other joints that could leak into the fuse.
Next on the hit list was to glass from the nose to just behind the first step. We hadn't tried fiberglassing before, but I watched Cole do it in his shop once. We put down 3/4 oz cloth (won in the raffle
) and 20min finishing resin with a credit card. Man, that worked like a charm! Really easy to apply and with a long finishing time. We added a second layer just ahead of the step where the most damage was seen from ground operations.
After a light sand, I shot a coat of WBPU cut 50% with isopropyl alcohol over mine to seal the joints from water and to seal the foam from the solvents in the spray paint to follow. That worked pretty well, but I did get some light damage to the foam when I applied the rattle can flourescent green.
Now I'm 100% ready for the pond, and Drew is right behind me!
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